Undocumented immigrant who worked at Trump National to attend State of the Union address

Hours after President Donald Trump said he would postpone this year's State of the Union address, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she's glad the issue is "off the table" and leaders can shift focus back to reopening the government. (Jan. 24)
AP

An undocumented immigrant who worked for five years at President Donald Trump's golf club in Bedminster will attend the State of the Union address Tuesday as a guest of a Democratic member of New Jersey's congressional delegation.

Victorina Morales, a native of Guatemala who lives in Bound Brook, was invited by Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of Mercer County.

Morales, who no longer works at Trump National Golf Club, and her attorney, Anibal Romero, could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Morales told reporters in a conference call on Tuesday that she was allowed to work at the resort after she submitted a fraudulent Social Security number and green card, which she alleges her supervisors were aware were phony.

The clubhouse at Trump National. The house was previously owned by auto maker John DeLorean.(Photo: Chris Pedota/NorthJersey.com)

Morales worked as a housekeeper and said she cleaned Trump's living quarters while he was running on a platform of cracking down on illegal immigration. After Trump was elected, she was told she would no longer be allowed to work in his residence.

The federal government reopened this week after it was shut down for 35 days over Trump's insistence that Congress appropriate $5.7 billion for a border wall that he promised voters in 2016 would be paid for by the Mexican government.

"President Trump justified shutting the government down for 5 weeks by demonizing immigrants as the scourge of the country and the root of our nation’s crime and insecurity,'' Watson Coleman said in a statement. "Meanwhile, CEO Trump led a company that has relied extensively on the hard work of undocumented immigrants like my constituent Victorina to keep his resorts clean and his putting greens trimmed. Donald Trump wants to build silly walls to stop the same immigrants that he’s made a career and a fortune from exploiting."

The federal government faces another possible shutdown if a deal on border security funding is not reached by Feb. 15.

During the conference call with reporters earlier this week, Morales said she arrived in the United States in 1999 and worked for Trump National in Bedminster for five years.

The president and members of Congress usually invite guests to the State of the Union, often to spotlight a cause. Last year, several undocumented immigrants who have temporary protection from deportation were invited by Democratic lawmakers, while the president invited victims of the MS-13 gang and an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent.